Filmkritik
Tytgat Chocolat – a sweet temptation
Elena Escudero Romero
A succesfull Flemish road-series prompts the launch of three European remakes. Productions in Italy, Belgium and Great Britain/Canada show the potential of the new named series “Tygat Chocolat”.
The success of Tytgat Chocolat (2017), the Flemish road-series in Austrian-Croatian co-production directed by Marc Bryssinck and Filip Lenaerts, generates the launch of three European remakes: Orguno è perfetto, an Italian production released in 2019; Comme les autres, a Belgian French-language series in production process; and a no-title-confirmed British-Canadian production in development.
About love in a chocolate factory
Tytgat Chocolat premiered between September and October 2017 on the Belgian Dutch channel één (VRT). Throughout its 7 episodes, it tells the story of Jasper Vloemans, a man with Down’s Syndrome who starts working at the Tytgat truffle factory in the city of Vosselaar (Antwerp, Belgium). There he meets Tina, a co-worker with whom he falls in love, and the two begin a romantic relationship. However, Tina is deported to Kosovo due to her irregular immigration status in the country. After this, her beloved Jasper begins a journey across Europe to find her.
The series is the result of the creative collaboration between film director Filip Lenaerts and Marc Bryssinck, director of the Theater STAP! group, the ensemble of actors and actresses with cognitive disabilities who take part of the leading cast of the series. The directors had previously collaborated in the creation of the audio-visual piece Sterven en leven van Jan Devroey (2009), a 48-minute film that was part of the show Airshow by the STAP! company.
Project mockumentary
Lenaerts and Bryssinck decided to continue their artistic collaboration with a new project: the series Lost in translation – Lord of the flies, a mockumentary based on archive images and recordings made by members of the STAP! ensemble. The series‘ pilot aroused the interest of the Dutch-speaking Belgian channel één (VRT) for its exhibition.
The channel suggested some nuances, such as the addition of recognized non-disabled actors from the Belgian scene and the use of a more standardised type of television image, far from a style that was moving towards experimentation and a formally „raw“ image. The two directors kept the original structure of the road-movie, but the title changed. Instead of Lost in translation – Lord of the flies, the new één series would be called Tytgat Chocolat.
European reception and attention
The series had important recognition in European festivals, such as the „Best European TV Fiction Series“ award at the Prix Europa in Berlin (2017) and the „Diversity TV Excellence Award“ in the fiction series category at the Mipcom Festival in Cannes (2017). It is available on the streaming platform of VRT, the Belgian public broadcaster of the Flemish Community, and was available on Netflix until last April.
With the premiere of the series in Belgium and its success in national ratings, they have emerged some initiatives for remakes of Lenaerts and Bryssinck’s road-series. Orguno è Perfetto released in 2019, was directed by Giacomo Campiotti and aired on Rai 1, one of Italy’s leading public television channels. Secondly comes Comme les autres, created by Jean-Luc Goosens and Sophia Perie. This French-language Belgian adaptation has already recorded its pilot episode, but has not yet been officially released.
Further adaptations
Unlike Tytgat Chocolat and Orguno è perfetto, Comme les autres stars a female main character, Alice, who falls in love with the young Albanian refugee Milan and has to travel to meet him again. Last but not least, DeMensen, the production company of the original road-series, announced another adaptation without a confirmed title driven by the British-Canadian group Reel One Entertainment. To produce the remake, the company plans to collaborate with the inclusive British theatre company Chickenshed, based in Southgate (London).